


Postcards From the River Sea

by lost_spook



Category: Journey to the River Sea - Eva Ibbotson
Genre: Epistolary, Gen, Post-Book(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-13
Updated: 2013-09-13
Packaged: 2017-12-26 10:58:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/965143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/pseuds/lost_spook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of letters to and from England and Brazil, 1912-13.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Postcards From the River Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elennare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elennare/gifts).



> Set post-book, so contains inevitable spoilers for the novel's ending. I hope the need to address Clovis as Finn in letters is not too confusing.

“Finn,” said Mr Greaves, his new tutor. “I have a letter for you – I think it may be the one you’ve been watching for all these weeks.”

Clovis (or Jimmy, or Finn) hurried across to take it from him. He had been waiting a long time for word from his friends. He hadn’t been sure whether to decide that they had all forgotten him, or they had been eaten by alligators, or died of a fever somewhere in the middle of an awful swamp. As none of those were things he liked to think about happening to Maia, or Miss Minton, or the real Finn, he was very relieved to see the much-travelled envelope, and he eagerly pulled out the sheet of paper inside.

*** 

28th November 1912

Dear ~~Cl~~ Finn,

I am very sorry that you were worried. I think my last letter to you must have been lost because I did write to you before we left, but we have been away exploring ever since then. It was so wonderful! You should have seen all the things we found! It would have been lovely to have you with us.

This time we travelled on for as long as we liked, with no one to come and chase us and fetch us home. The Xanti were very pleased to see us again, which we were all glad about, because we were afraid that they might blame us for what happened last time, when those people did come after us. 

I have learned so many new songs, but they are not things I can write to you. I wish I could! One day I am sure we will all meet again and I shall sing you my very favourite, which I can’t describe at all in words, except that it is just how our journey down the Agarapi would be if it were turned into music.

Now that we are back at the House of Rest, we have so much to do! We brought back so many plants and pictures and insects and now we have to make sure we make very careful notes of what each one is and where we found it. 

So you see, we are all well and happy and you had no need to worry. I shall write again soon and tell you more of our adventures and I expect the others will too. Please, do write often, too. I like to hear of what you are doing – and so strange to think that soon you will be expecting snow! That is very hard to imagine here.

With love from your friend,

Maia

***

Dear Finn,

(It is very odd to write that!) Maia said I should write, so I am. We have been finding lots of interesting things. I have enclosed some of them in this letter for you. 

Miss Minton still makes me read Caesar’s _Gallic Wars_ , but we are nearly finished at last. If I complain, she reminds me that any good student of medicine or botany has to know Latin, which is true, but it is hard work. 

I do hope you are still as happy as you say. Are you sure? But I am very, very happy here and I will always be grateful to you for that. Good luck.

from,

F. T. A. Verner

***

11th Jan 1913

Dear Maia,

It was very good to get your letters, but please tell F there was a dead beetle in his. I don’t mind all that much and it was a good thing in the end, but I don’t think he should send any more.

When Mary (who is one of the maids here) picked up the letter to take it to my Grandfather, the beetle fell out. She screamed so loudly everyone in Westwood heard it and made the biggest fuss for ages afterwards because it dropped out of sight and nobody knew if it was a dead beetle or a live one. Mary was having ~~histerrics~~ ~~hist~~ cried a lot.

The good thing is that now they won’t touch any post for me, so sometimes I can read it before they take it into Grandfather. Not that I have many letters, only from you. And I had three notes from each of my cousins (the ones I told you about) and I have copied them onto a separate sheet of paper for you, so you can read them and tell me which one I should marry when I grow up. I know you will chuse the right one.

I have copied in some recipes for you. ~~My~~ Mrs Bates is the  best cook and these are some puddings we have had. I wish I could send you all a piece, but I can’t, so maybe you can try making them if you have all the ingreediants.

I expect F will want to know what happened to the beetle. Well, it was rescued because my new tutor found it under the hat stand. He got very excited about it and said it must be a very rare spessimin. He wanted to know where it came from and made me have a lesson on Brazil and the Amazon, and I thought about you all.

(He is all right. He goes on a lot about some things, but he is down from Cambridge and not too old or stuffy or strict and he doesn’t shout. He does make me read Caesar, too, you can tell F. Latin isn’t too bad, I think, but Greek is awful. He does make a fuss about spelling and grammer, though.

And, yes, I am happy here. I like Westwood very much. It could only be better if you were here.

Love from

Finn (CK)

***

Enclosed Recipes:

 

 **BAKED APPLE DUMPLINGS**  
1225\. INGREDIENTS – 6 apples, 3/4 lb.. of suet-crust No. 1215, sugar to taste.  
 ** _Mode._** —Pare and take out the cores of the apples without dividing them, and make 1/2 lb. of suet-crust by recipe No. 1215; roll the apples in the crust, previously sweetening them with moist sugar, and taking care to join the paste nicely. When they are formed into round balls, put them on a tin, and bake them for about 1/2 hour, or longer should the apples be very large; arrange them pyramidically on a dish, and sift over them some pounded white sugar. ~~These may be made richer by using one of the puff-pastes instead of suet.~~ I like the suet best.  
 ** _Time._** —From 1/2 to 3/4 hour, or longer. **_Average cost_** , 1–1/2d. each.  
 ** _Sufficient_** for 4 persons. **_Seasonable_** from August to March, but flavourless after the end of January.

*

 **EMPRESS PUDDING.**  
1273\. INGREDIENTS.—1/2 lb. of rice, 2 oz. of butter, 3 eggs, jam, sufficient milk to soften the rice.  
 ** _Mode._** —Boil the rice in the milk until very soft; then add the butter boil it for a few minutes after the latter ingredient is put in, and set it by to cool. Well beat the eggs, stir these in, and line a dish with puff-paste; put over this a layer of rice, then a thin layer of any kind of jam*, then another layer of rice, and proceed in this manner until the dish is full; and bake in a moderate oven for 3/4 hour. This pudding may be eaten hot or cold; if the latter, it will be much improved by having a boiled custard poured over it.  
 ** _Time._** —3/4 hour. **_Average cost_** , 1s.  
 ** _Sufficient_** for 6 or 7 persons. **_Seasonable_** at any time.

*Mrs Bates used Plum Jam.

*

 

 **BROWN-BREAD PUDDING**  
1253\. INGREDIENTS.—3/4 lb. of brown-bread crumbs, 1/2 lb. of currants, 1/2 lb. of suet, 1/4 lb. of moist sugar, 4 eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls of brandy, 2 tablespoonfuls of cream, grated nutmeg to taste. 

**_Mode_**.—Grate 3/4 lb. of crumbs from a stale brown loaf; add to these the currants and suet, and be particular that the latter is finely chopped. Put in the remaining ingredients; beat the pudding well for a few minutes; put it into a buttered basin or mould; tie it down tightly, and boil for nearly 4 hours. Send sweet sauce to table with it. 

**_Time._** —Nearly 4 hours. **_Average cost_** , 1s. 6d. 

**_Sufficient_** for 6 or 7 persons. **_Seasonable_** at any time; but more suitable for a winter pudding.  This one is my favourite.

***

“These look _awful_ ,” said Finn, when he saw the recipes.

“They are,” Maia agreed, remembering the dinners she used to eat at the Mayfair Academy for Young Ladies, especially bread and butter pudding, which she had loathed. “But Clovis says his foster mother is a very good cook, so they are probably much nicer than the ones I had at school.”

Finn only looked worried. “You aren’t going to try and make them, are you?”

***

_Enclosed notes from the Smith sisters to their “cousin”:_

 

Dear Cousin Finn,

I hope you will come to tea again soon. Mother says that as her nephew, you are always welcome here. It was very nice to see you the other week. I have enclosed an album decorated with pressed flowers. I have one, for collecting photographs and picture postcards, but you can use yours for whatever you choose.

With best wishes, 

Cousin Hope

 

*

 

Dear Cousin Finn,

Please find in this parcel the mittens that I promised you. They are to match your scarf. I am sorry they took so long to make but thumbs are difficult and I am very glad I did not try to do fingers, as I don’t know what they would have turned into. I might learn that for next year now, but first I am going to try making socks. What is your favourite colour? I should like to know.

From your cousin

Faith Smith

 

*

 

Dear Cousin Finn,

Mother thought it would be very nice if I made you some cakes when you came to tea yesterday, but they went awfully wrong and were ever so runny in the middle and horridly burnt around the edges. So I am very sorry that there were only buns when you were here – it was my fault!

I am going to learn to crochet next as long as Faith doesn’t use up all the wool, because I don’t think I am very likely to burn crochet.

Love from Charity

***

Tapherini

17th February 1913

Dear Finn,

Maia showed me your letter, including the recipes that you sent. (On reading them, I can only trust that you are continuing to brush your teeth regularly.) I am writing to reply to some of your questions in said letter.

Do please tell your tutor (who sounds a most sensible young man) that I sympathise with him in regard to your grammar and spelling (please do note the correct spelling of grammar). They are far poorer than I should expect of a boy brought up with such an intimate knowledge of Shakespeare.

As to the issue of your cousins, I think you are all a little too young to be worrying about it. Once you are grown up, I daresay the issue will resolve itself in a way that may surprise you. However, I am pleased to hear that they seem like very nice girls and I hope that you will always remember to behave kindly towards them.

I have, you may be glad to hear, made F. promise that he will not send you any more samples. The beetle in question was indeed very rare – a hitherto unknown example of the _Cassidinae_ species. Luckily, we had collected another specimen, so all was not lost. (The Professor, by the way, is travelling to England at this very moment to visit the British Museum with regards to some of our finds.) Again, please do congratulate your tutor on his presence of mind. You may wish to donate the beetle to the nearest museum, if they can be trusted to look after it. Assuming, of course, it is in a suitable state, which I doubt after being entrusted to the postal service from Brazil to England with nothing more than a paper envelope for protection.

We are all very glad to hear that you continue to be happy at Westwood.

Do attend closely to your studies, spelling in particular, and I’m sure you will do very well.

Yours faithfully,

 

Miss A. Minton

***

26th March 1913

My Dear Miss Minton,

I am writing to inform you of my safe arrival in England. In addition, the British Museum were most interested in several of the specimens and other items I had brought with me. One or two even caused great excitement amongst the academics.

I know very well that you have been steadfast in refusing to join me in matrimony, but I have another proposal to make to you. I find works on the Amazon to be highly limited and out of date over here. They are also shockingly sparse and on occasion extremely tediously written. I think we can do something to amend matters, so here I come to the point: perhaps you would be gracious enough to join with me in print?

That is to say, I think we could write a very useful and readable – and significantly more accurate work – for those unlucky enough not to be able to make voyages such as ours. 

I will not be too long in following this letter home again and we can discuss the idea at length. I hope you will consider it favourably, particularly as I lack your talent for crisp prose which is so much more accessible to non-academic readers.

I trust you, Maia and Finn continue well,

Your devoted friend,

Neville Glastonberry

***

“Well,” said Miss Minton, folding up the letter again, and looking over at the two children. “That all seems to be quite satisfactory”

And neither Maia nor Finn could disagree.

“It’s all _splendid_ ,” said Maia, and risked Miss Minton’s disapproval to hug her.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m largely indebted to Google and Wiki for many of the small details (cross-atlantic voyage times, dates of the rainy season in Brazil etc.) so apologies for any horrible errors resulting from such questionable research! (Miss Minton would no doubt not approve.) Clovis's recipes, of course, come courtesy of Mrs Beeton and the various online editions of her _Book of Household Management_.


End file.
